Ask your father.
That was what this was all about. 2.0—the one called Moses—had wanted her to ask Dad what all this was about. And Dad had said that it was probably something to do with a client, even though Moses had been adamant that it was about Dad.
Payback, he’d called it.
And I’m collateral damage.
Alix began running possibilities through her mind. Maybe they were going to try to ransom her. Or use her to extort something from Dad. Maybe if he gave them what they wanted, they’d let her go—
You’ve seen their faces.
Alix felt ill. Kidnappers who planned on letting you go would probably hide their faces, right? So maybe they really were just going to leave her in the cage and let her die.
Part of her wanted to panic at the thought, but mostly she was exhausted and angry at herself for walking right into a trap. Good girl Alix, thinking she was busting loose. And Cynthia coaching her into the trap the whole way.
Alix decided she hated Cynthia.
Then she decided she hated herself. She’d been naive.
You trusted Cynthia. You trusted Dad.
He’d said it probably was just people who were confused and crazy. But these people were focused on him like laser sights. He was the target, and she was collateral damage, and she still didn’t understand why.
What did you have to do to someone to make them want to destroy your entire life?
Alix got up and tried to stretch her legs. It had to be morning, by now. By now Mom and Dad had to suspect that she hadn’t just run off to a party. They’d be searching for her. Lisa would be searching for her.
Death Barbie.
If anyone was going to find her, it was Lisa. Alix remembered the woman’s expression as she and Cynthia ditched. The fixed gaze of a single-minded hunter. That woman had almost caught a car on foot.
Alix fantasized about Lisa blasting into the factory and saving her. Homing in on Alix’s phone and crashing through the door—except she’d ditched her cell, just like clever Cynthia had suggested.
Alix found herself wishing she’d had a hidden phone. A secret one that they could track. Something that would let Death Barbie call in a drone strike. Send in the SWAT teams…
Quit it, Alix. You’re on your own.
For all she knew, she’d gotten Death Barbie fired. She’d ditched the lady, after all. Maybe Dad had canned her for being incompetent. Maybe Alix had helped get rid of the one person who had even a tiny chance of rescuing her.
Alix huddled in the darkness. She could smell her urine. This wasn’t a movie. She was in a cage in a warehouse in the dark, and the reality was that they could do whatever they wanted to her.
She wondered if she’d end up as a bunch of bones that someone would find in the woods in another decade. A mystery girl identified by DNA, the way she sometimes saw a discovered body reported in the news.
Alix began to sob. She had never felt so miserable and hopeless. The darkness pressed down on her, and she sobbed.
No one came.
Nothing happened.
She was alone.
The door opened.
Alix squinted in the sudden spike of light. Daylight? It was daylight. And the shadow walking toward her…
Moses.
Alix tried to dry her tears on her hands. To clean her face and hide her fear.
You don’t get to see me cry, you asshole. You don’t get to see anything. You’re not going to see me crying.
He had a paper plate in one hand and the lantern in the other. He set the lantern down and offered her the plate with a sandwich on it. She held out her hand, but he put the paper plate down just outside the bars.
“Cheese sandwich,” he said.
Alix glared at him. She decided she wasn’t going to eat the sandwich, just to show Moses that she didn’t need him.
I’m not going to do anything you want me to.
It was a small thing, but it was what she could do.
“Suit yourself.” He sat down on the stool. He wrinkled his nose. “Did you piss yourself?”
“What do you think?” Alix snapped.
He picked up the lantern and circled the cage. Held it over the wet place where her urine had run and then soaked into concrete. “I’m sorry,” he said. “We’ll get something for you.”
“A chamber pot?” Alix challenged.
“I don’t know.” He sat down again. “We’ll figure it out. If I could trust you, I’d just let you use the toilet.” He shrugged and touched his forehead. “But, you know. You’re a fighter. I got a bite in my arm and a chipped tooth, and Kook says I should be glad I don’t have a concussion.” He touched his swollen brow, again, significantly. “Starting to think I can’t really risk letting you out. So…” He shrugged. “Here we are.”
“Why are you doing this to me?”
He sighed. “Your dad didn’t tell you, did he?”
“You’re animal rights activists or something, right? That’s why you did the thing with the lab rats.”
“Is that what he told you?” He laughed. “Sucker even lies to his own daughter.”
“He doesn’t lie to me.”
Moses shrugged. “If you say so.”
“You think I’m going to believe you?”
Moses grinned abruptly. The same wild smile that Alix had seen before. The one that had urged her to open the door to her own house, for God’s sake.
Alix wished she could punch the smile bloody.
“Believe me?” Moses asked. “Believe me?” He started to laugh, shaking his head.
“What’s so funny?”
“ ‘Believe,’ ” he said. “It’s a funny word. ‘Believe.’ ‘Believing.’ ”
He got up and started to pace, moving back and forth in front of her cage. “Do I expect you to believe me? No, I don’t. ‘Believing’ is for Santa Claus, right? It’s for Tooth Fairies. It’s for your boyfriend when he says he’s never met anyone like you and wants to feel you up. That’s believing. It’s for little kids. Belief. You believe in God?” he asked sharply.
Alix was startled by the question. “I don’t know. I guess. Sure.”
“I don’t. Used to, you know?” He shrugged. “Now, I don’t.”
He paused, seeming to pick his words. “The thing about belief—” He broke off, scowling. He sighed and shook his head, seeming to be going over something in his mind. His frown deepened.
Alix had the feeling that she was seeing some version of Moses that wasn’t exposed often. Not cool and relaxed, but frustrated and burdened. It made him seem suddenly real to her. Not a captor. Not the merry prankster. It made it feel to her as if the darkness between them was charged with electricity.
She almost had the feeling that if she could just find the right thing to say, he might even let her go. And if she said the wrong thing, not.
Uncertain outcomes everywhere.
Alix waited, watchful. Trying to get a feel for her captor. Trying to understand what made him spark.
The silence between them lengthened.
Finally, Alix prodded. “The thing about belief is…”
Moses gave her a sharp look. “Seriously? You’re going to push on me?”
Alix couldn’t help glaring. “Seriously? You put me in a cage. Now you want me to be polite?”